Monopolies: Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

The past couple days I've had much on my mind. My mind can be a pretty a scary place to be in most of the time, especially trying to muddle your way through some thoughts! :) Lately I've been thinking a lot about monopolies. Monopoly can be a pretty dirty word in the English language and a taboo topic most folks like to shelve for another day's conversation. But what is it about this word that gets us so fired up? Is it the fear of a socialistic, government-monopolized nation? Is it man's competitive nature rising to the surface and not wanting their neighbor to be stronger & more powerful than them? Is it lack of education or is it all of the above?

I'd like this topic to be my next Ketch Pen article but I wanted to bring it up to get people thinking. Are all monopolies truly bad? Or do we only think of them as bad because it has been imprinted on us from a young age? I have staggeringly different opinions depending on the industry, company, and situation, which obviously shows my lack of knowledge or education on the subject. I'm in no position to go on the O'Reilly factor any time soon arguing my opinions!

The monopoly "battle" I'm most familiar with is the one that has seemed to follow Microsoft around for nearly the life of the company. Now, I fully understand the importance of competition and all the benefits that healthy competition provides. However, in the case of Microsoft specifically can one company help that they have created a hold on an entire market through making a product that no other company has been able to recreate as well? Are we going to punish every person and every company who just happens to be the best in their class? It would be like telling Tiger Woods that he has to give up every win he has ever had just because he is better than his competitors.

Now on the opposite end of the spectrum for me is Wal-Mart. I fully believe that Wal-Mart is an example of an unhealthy monopoly. Now they not technically have a full-fledge hold on the market but they are certainly close and one could say there company's success has changed American Industry. I bring up Wal-Mart because of the fact that their stores with grocery sections can be very frustrating to shop in due to the fact they often only carry 1 or 2 brands of a product. When a corporation who has thousands of locations carries only a few brands in their stores, they are creating a chain of monopolies that trickle on down to every supplier, transporters, and even growers of their products. Do we need to worry about one corporation in one industry being a monopoly when we could have one corporation change multiple industries?

I wanted to get the thoughts rolling on the whole monopoly debacle because the biggest monopoly chatter I have always heard has been in relation to the PACKERS. That's right, I blew the cover right off of that bottled up topic!!! Are the packers a monopoly? If they are a true monopoly, does it really matter? Have you ever thought that perhaps all the regulations today make it almost not impossible for the strongest contender to stay? Survival of the fittest in food processing? You can't have it all ways....you can't have the safest supply in the world, the healthiest, the greatest amount, and STILL have multiple companies trying to save in that arena.

Hmm.....gets ya thinking doesn't it? :) Next WCA ketch pen article is brewing.............

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder......

Our preferences to nature's landscapes are a wonderful example of what each of us deem "beautiful" are independent opinions from one another. Do you feel that the most beautiful landscapes in the world are similar to what you saw outside your kitchen window growing up? The scablands or deserts of the US can be called eye-sores, or God's Country....its all in which lenses you are looking through! :)

Yesterday was a busy day for me. In addition to my actual "day" job I fit in a meeting in the morning at Senator Cathy McMorris Rodger's Spokane District Office. I met her Agriculture and Natural Resource Director, Mike Poulson. I had never spoken with Mike before and it was nice to sit down and chat about issues from healthcare & immigration reform to environmental policy and our state's constant agricultural legal woes! Mike is from Connell, WA and works for Cathy from our own state rather than residing in WA DC. That is such a blessing for our farmers and ranchers to have someone situated here locally giving our state Senator updates on the issues he is seeing firsthand. I left armed with some great ideas for getting more young people involved in the WCA and in agriculture issues in general.

When I was finally out of the office for the day and on my drive to Selah, I fit in a phone interview with AgInfoNet radio. I had been contacted earlier in the week by David Sparks who covers the program for them in Southern Idaho. After reading the great article on the YCC, WCA, and YWCA in the Capital Press, he was interested in bottling some of this enthusiasm and excitement for his Idaho listeners. My schedule had been so crazy this week that the time that seemed to work the best was 8PM last night while I was cruising along I-90...(oh hands-free of course right? wink wink!) David was a pleasure to speak with and is so supportive of everything the WCA and myself are trying to do in involving younger people and really taking action to save our industry! He said he would do whatever he could to help and it was great talking with someone who was also positive and excited about agriculture!

Everyone at my company this week has been abuzz over the Capital Press Article! The article was more than I could have it imagined it to be and is helping us do what I had hoped. It is not about me or anything I really even did on the YCC-its about creating a feeling of hope and enthusiasm in people, whether they are involved directly in the cattle industry or not! You are your own best or worst enemy and I hope that people can find hope in something out there in life. There is prosperity and life all around us if we choose to see it. You can listen to the news 24/7 and allow fear and worry get you down or listen to that doomsday/world-ending person next to you and allow their despair shred your sail.....OR you can choose to listen to those people that are willing to work through adversity and rough patches, knowing that a hillclimb is ALWAYS followed by an easy care-free descent!

Enjoy your weekend! :)